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Précis of Published Articles of Ernest E. Larkin, O.Carm

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Précis of Published Articles of Ernest E. Larkin, O.Carm Précis of Published Articles of Ernest E. Larkin, O.Carm. 1) “Amazing Grace,” in Presence, No. 2, Victoria, Australia (July-August, 1974) 3-6. In his keynote address for the first Australian Catholic Charismatic Conference in Melbourne, Australia on 1 June 1974, Fr. Larkin defined the Movement as a “baptism in the Spirit”, a beginning, an awakening to the presence of the Lord in our lives--a personal conversion. The second stage was its organization as a community, “bonds of love with structures” for the group as a whole. The third stage “marking the maturity of the movement...will be social action.” These three interpenetrating stages are complementary tasks for renewal and reconciliation of the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. 2) “Asceticism,” The New Dictionary of Theology (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1987) 64-67. Christian asceticism is positive human strategies for spiritual living in contrast to the classical pagan asceticism which was dualistic and negative, anti-human, anti- body, anti-world. The emphasis of Vatican II was on incarnational theology, looking to total human development. The goal and practice of the new asceticism of our time is the human and divine coinciding. It is the integration of life, personal and social, the search for love and for human authenticity in the relationships of human community. 3) “Asceticism in Modern Life,” Concilium, Theology in the Age of Renewal, Vol. 19, Christian Duquoc, O.P., ed., (New York: Paulist Press, 1966) 100-108. The asceticism of the past was strongly connected with the cross of Christ; the new asceticism as expressed by Teilhard de Chardin is a “union with God through the world.” Detachment dictated the self-abnegation of the old: the Christian of today achieves self-abnegation through love and service of God in others. Man finds God where God chooses to come to him--in others and in the world. It is an incarnational ascesis. 4) “Aspiratory Prayer, a Welcome Addition to Contemplative Prayer,” in Review for Religious, 65, 3 (Quarterly, 2006) 255-271. Fr. Ernest Larkin defines aspiratory prayer as a “warm, human approach to God” . proceeding “by way of fervent desires of the heart.” Not to be confused with ejaculatory prayer, aspirative prayer is an interior longing for God which leads one into “the furnace of God's love” to transforming union. The author traces this prayer form's historical development and its notable adherents who wrote in the 14th to 17th centuries. They claim John Cassian and The Cloud of Unknowing as precedents for this intense and loving form of prayer. [1] 5) “Behold Your Mother,” in Our Lady’s Digest, 39, 4 (Spring, 1985) 98-100. Mary stands for what the “Church wholly desires and hopes to be”, a phrase from Vatican II adopted by the Bishops’ Synod of 21 November 1973. The mystery of Mary leads to an understanding of the Mystery of Christ and of his church. Because of her simplicity and lowliness Mary was able to “respond in faith, and the Word of God took flesh in her womb.” 6) “Call of Carmel, The,” in Saint Thérèse Lay Carmelite Community, Rapidan Press, VA (1989) 7-9. Fr. Larkin identifies the spirit of the Order as contemplative and Marian-centered. The Carmelite charism values community and friendship (“fraternity”), and focuses on the prophetic role of establishing the kingdom of God on earth. The priorities for each Carmelite are prayer and solitude and awareness of the Christ- life within. 7) “Carmelite Life Renewed,” in The Sword, 26, 2 (1966) 19-24. The General Chapter of the Carmelites in 1965 instituted major changes in Carmelite life following Vatican II . The present-day Carmelite, combining the apostolic life and monastic observances, “must be truly human, i.e., seeking and finding self-fulfillment as well as sanctity”. The Carmelite must be, also, a “man of the Church”, involved in the Church’s liturgical, biblical, ecumenical and societal renewals. 8) “Carmelite Lives: Christian P. Ceroke, O.Carm.,” in The Sword, 52, 2 (1991) 67-81. Christian Paul Ceroke was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1920. Following his years of prep at Mt. Carmel College in Niagara Falls, Ontario, he was ordained a Carmelite priest in 1946. After two years of study in Rome, he was assigned to Whitefriars in D.C. to teach biblical studies, where he remained until 1950, when he moved to Catholic University. Fr. Ceroke remained there for 27 years, during which time he published extensively as well as helped to establish the School of Religious Studies. Chris was an associate editor of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, and prepared all the New Testament footnotes for the New American Bible of 1971. Fr. Ceroke was greatly esteemed by his students, confreres and colleagues. 9) “Carmelite Spirituality,” in Liturgical Ministry, 10 (Fall, 2001) 201-203. Carmelite spirituality finds its “source and summit” in the public prayer and worship of the church. Fr. Larkin traces the Order’s “special affinity” with the liturgy in its historical development from the Order’s eremitical origins to its contemporary structure. Community life and personal prayer prepare for and continue the encounter with Christ in the liturgy. Daily Eucharist and the Divine Office have the same biblical character as the Rule. “Carmelite spirituality is basically contemplative” and the author sees liturgical prayer in the Carmelite tradition as culminating in the contemplative life. [2] 10) “Carmelite Spirituality for a Carmelite,” in Retorno, 7, 2 (Spring, 1982) 9-12. Writing for a journal subtitled Married Spirituality, the author recounts his life as a Carmelite viewing the 30 years, 1939-1969, as a preparation for his life and work in the newly-formed diocese of Phoenix. For a Carmelite religious the “laws of growth” are sharing in community combined with solitude and prayer, whereas for the married couple it is interaction, a deepening sharing of life and prayer. For both religious and married, growth is brought about by personal and interpersonal relationships. 11) “Carmelite Spirituality for Carmelites,” in The Sword, 43, l (April, 1983) 3-10. As a Carmelite the author tries to “maintain dynamic tension between prayer and work”, combining activity with the contemplative ideal. Larkin discusses the three elements of the Carmelite life: 1) prophecy, proclamation of the Word; 2) contemplation, a vigorous prayer life; and, 3) community, the practice of fraternal charity. Carmelites are especially devoted to Mary, “the first and greatest contemplative.” 12) “Carmelite Spirituality Today,” in Ascent, Review for Carmelite Sisters, Rome, 1 (1965) 3-8. All Christians are called to live the Paschal Mystery death and resurrection. In Carmelite Spirituality one dies to self by self-denial: one expresses the resurrection through prayer and union with God. Carmelite characteristics are the practices of prayer, self-denial and devotion to Our Lady who is the model of loving God and finding him in all things. 13) “Carmelite Spirituality Today,” in Scapular, 28, 3 (February-March, 1974) 11-16. The essential Mystery of Christ is His death and resurrection. We, too, must die to sin, selfishness, self-centeredness. Carmelite spirituality is evidenced in fraternal charity and the practice of the presence of God. One must be available to others, to see Christ in them, to love them as they are. Mary’s “Thy will be done” is the epitome of true charity: hers was the perfect “yes” to God. 14) “Carmelite Tradition and Centering Prayer/Christian Meditation, The,” Carmelite Prayer: A Tradition for the 21st Century, Keith J. Egan, ed., (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2003) 202-222. Father Larkin interfaces the Carmelite tradition with two popular forms of contemplative prayer, centering prayer and Christian Meditation, in order to evaluate them and make connections with the past. The Carmelite sources studied are The Rule of St. Albert (1206-1214), The Institution of the First Monks (1370), Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, and the Touraine Reform (17th century, France). He finds “amazing consonance” between the sources and the new methods, not only in the general thrust of self-emptying and fulfillment, but in the methods of active contemplative prayer. He sees similarities between Touraine’s “aspirative prayer” and the new methods with their use of the sacred word or mantra. Centering prayer and Christian Meditation are “friendly developments” of the Carmelite tradition. [3] 15) “Charismatic Renewal and Forms of Contemplation,” Contemplation and the Charismatic Renewal, Paul Hinnebusch, O.P., ed., (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1986) 55-66. According to John of the Cross, contemplation is prepared for by detaching oneself from all things. Fr. Larkin discusses various methods of prayer: discursive, imageless, mantric or centering prayerBeach adapted to the individual to lead to detachment (kenosis) in order to experience the fullness ( pleroma ) of God within. The author also distinguishes between Teresa’s gustos (spiritual delights) which is pure gift from God, and her contentos (sensible consolations) which largely depend on oneself. 16) “Christ and Prayer,” in The Sword, 33, 2 (1973) 23-33. The Christology of today emphasizes the Resurrection as “Jesus alive and present among us.” Whatever is truly human, whatever is authentic reality is of Christ. Prayer is the experience of identification with Christ because of the “alchemy of love”. Prayer is receptive, letting Christ into our lives, being open to God through him. Prayer is essentially a “loving response to Christ.” 17) “Christian Mindfulness,” in Review for Religious, 66, 3 (Quarterly, 2007) 230-247. (Published posthumously: kindness of David L. Fleming, S.J., Editor.) Father Larkin proposes Christian mindfulness, the practice of the “presence of our total selves in the moment,” in order to realize the presence of God within. Christians emphasize the presence of God in all things, but need to be mindful that the “given moment is the only place one can meet God.” Christians can learn from the Buddhists the discipline of the awareness of the “presence of now”, to seek total presence to the moment without distraction or divided attention.
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